08.01.08

The Central Bank of Seychelles has recently announced that Seychellesâ€™ Mutual Fund Act has been updated. To build on the success of the financial services industry, Mutual Fund Act has been redrafted in order to plug gaps in the previous mutual funds legislation as well as to allow local financial service providers to tap into the multi-trillion dollar offshore mutual funds industry.

The redraft has been undertaken with a view to enable companies working in the financial services sector to offer services to mutual funds investors, which combine the assets of many investors in order to create larger funds for investment in stock exchanges and money markets as well as other investment opportunities.

The original legislation came into force in 1997. This was the beginning of mutual funds development.

The global mutual funds industry was estimated to be worth USD 26.2 trillion by the end of 2007. The industry has surpassed any other offshore business structure. It is growing at an average of 1 trillion USD per year.

It is also worth noting that the newly drafted legislation is aimed at bolstering banking and legal services for mutual fund operations.